Ready for this ?
At 3pm I was trying to convince that we should be out taking a walk. She was wiped out however and not up to it. I put Dixie's leash on and Anne was considering going with us after all.
But wait,,,,,,,
About 3:30 now Anne began to shiver, and couldn't stop. She asked me for pain and nausea meds. At about 4pm I asked Anne to call the CMMC emergency number and she did. They advised that we take Anne's temperature, and it was 101.2. The emergency folks said it was critical, could be an infection, and we must rush into Emergency at Maine Medical. The girl on the phone (Tammy) would let the on-call oncology doctor (Dr. Devon Evans) know. She also said that Anne would probably be admitted to the Gibson Pavillion. Anne was able to get up and move around just fine, so we didn't need the ambulance this time.
At 5:30 we were being admitted to a room in the new Emergency area at Maine Medical. At 7:30 they took blood and told us it could be tested in a half hour. they told us how important it is for Anne to get some anti-biotics, but they didn't know what kind to use since Anne has so many alergys.
At 9:30 the supervisor of ER doctors came to our room and told us Anne's white blood count was low, that it was 800 and it should be 10,000, and that her immune system was compromized. He said this is when we don't even think, rather we just give anti-biotics thru the IV. That's when I lost it. I blew up because had been being told startin starting at 4pm about the possible infection, and the need for anti-biotics, and none were forth coming. This is when this supervisor (Tamas) turned the case over to the oncology Dr on-call to determine which anti-biotic would be safe to give to Anne. Dr. Evans was on his way in from home to do this, and to admit Anne to the Gibson Pavillion (cancer wing) once again. Soon Dr Evans was with us and he quickly prescribed Vancomycin. He said the condition with the low white blood count is called a "neutropenic" condition. It's scary because Anne's body cannot defend itself right now. I asked if he thought Anne would be able to have her final 2 R/T's on Monday and Tuesday and he said 'yes'. He is a good doctor, I can tell. All of the oncology staff here has always been fantastic.
Shortly Anne was feeling somewhat better and she was taken to room 565 at Gibson. I headed home after midnight.